Biography

Claudia Alta Taylor was born December 22, 1912, to parents Thomas Jefferson Taylor and Minnie Pattillo Taylor. She was born in the town of Karnac, in eastern Texas. Her mother died when Claudia was just five years old. She and her two brothers were cared for by their father and their Aunt Effie.


Claudia was given the nickname of "Lady Bird" as a young child by a nursemaid who called her "purty as a lady bird." The nickname stuck for the rest of her life.


Lady Bird graduated High School in 1928 then went on to college. She graduated from University of Texas in Austin in 1933 with a Bachelor of Arts in History and then in 1934 with a Bachelor of Journalism with honors.

She married Lyndon B. Johnson in November of 1934. She had two daughter, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson. She died on July 11, 2007.